That's Right!
by The Raven and the Fox
Summary: The day Souji went home, Yosuke stood on the train platform for what seemed like hours after the train had disappeared and everyone else had left, just staring out along the tracks.


Oh gosh. I don't even know what to say. Unfortunately the only way I can notify my lovely readers of any updates to my writing life is by posting stuff. Is this even allowed? Posting an excerpt? I guess you could technically count it as a first chapter, though it's really very short…

Let's cut to the chase. I recently finished playing Persona 4 and am, as they say, all the feels about it. God I ship SouYo so hard. I want to take advantage of my passion for it (because I know I tend to get very invested in a pairing for a while and then suddenly lose interest… unless it's SasuNaru), so I started writing fanfiction. I had this one all planned out; it was awesome and inspiring and I was so excited to write it… and then it came out terribly. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. It feels bare. I think it's the combination of a new fandom (especially considering I've never seriously written for any fandom other than Naruto) and a serious lack of practice lately. It's been months since I've been able to do any real writing for myself, and it shows, just as it shows if I haven't drawn anything in a week.

Anyway, I wanted to post this just to let you guys know what's going on: I'm trying desperately to get back into writing, I want to explore a new fandom and pairing, and I kind of really want this to become a long fic that I can count on to give me something to write. In order of importance as well as probability of success, I suppose. And I miss posting fanfiction.

If you've never played any Persona games before, I highly recommend them. I'd heard great things about them from the beginning, but was a little wary of them… until I started playing. Give P4 a go. Seriously, you will not be disappointed.

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><p>53 – Thursday

"…expecting rain from Monday onwards. Take the time to enjoy the sunshine before it's gone, folks! And now for sports—"

Yosuke tugs the headphone jack from his MP3 player, cutting the sound. Screw this new radio feature. The only channel with decent reception is the news, and hearing the news just makes him think of the past year's case. He doesn't want to hear the news anymore. He doesn't want to watch TV or listen to gossip or be up at midnight. Over is over, and Souji's long gone. But he just spent half his work shift in the electronics department, rumours are flying around the little town as quickly as ever, and Yosuke's had many a sleepless night tossing and turning as the sound of the rain drives into his mind. All the radio's told him is to expect to be exhausted for school on Monday.

He sits in his usual chair in Junes's food court. He's the only one who really calls the table theirs anymore. He supposes it's closer to being his now, though that's not true either. He's not the only one who uses this table – he knows because he always has to fight down the territorial flame in the pit of his stomach whenever he sees customers there. It's stupid, he tells himself, not for the first time by far. He never had a problem with it when they met up to discuss the case. Sometimes the table would already be occupied, so they'd just go sit somewhere else, no big deal. But now that they've stopped meeting up, it seems more important than ever.

The day Souji went home, Yosuke stood on the train platform for what seemed like hours after the train had disappeared and everyone else had left, just staring out along the tracks. Imagining what it would be like to speed away from all of this, to leave all his friends behind, to go back to his old life. He decided he would hate doing that, after all they'd been through. He hated Inaba when he first moved here, but he'd found his place, his role. Yes, he decided he liked it here.

But something was missing. It wasn't hard to figure it out – no one felt the same without Souji around. He left the station and found himself at the Special Investigation Headquarters – found everyone else sitting there, saying nothing. He took an empty seat at the table, leaving one. Their leader's seat.

They kept meeting up after school to share food and stories. A tale about a classmate would turn into an anecdote about Souji's top exam marks; a remark about some kid in the shopping district would become fond memories of summer at the Dojima residence with Nanako. But as the weeks went by, they gathered less and less. Yukiko was swamped with work at the inn; Naoto and Chie found training at the police station through Dojima; Kanji received commission after commission for stuffed animals; Rise holed herself up at home to work on her new album. Sure, Yosuke had his shift at Junes, but that was nothing new. Sometimes he went to the TV world to wander or muse or just nap, almost hoping he'd run into some shadows to fight, but it was more peaceful there than anyone could have imagined. He didn't run into Teddie much there either. At first he figured this was a good thing, but then he started to miss Teddie too. He barely even talked to the others at school. And it wasn't because of them – Chie and Yukiko spent all their free time together, and Kanji, Naoto, and Rise were a solid trio. It was all him.

He tried. He really did. When a bout of thieving attacked the shopping district, he immediately called everyone to the food court to discuss. Naoto was mildly intrigued and Chie wanted to kick the guy's ass, but the culprit was apprehended the day after. Then an overeager fan of Risette's tried to break into her house, but there wasn't much they could do about that either. Yosuke kept checking the midnight channel and the news, but there weren't many mysteries to be solved anymore, and none of the team really seemed interested anyway. The more Yosuke tried to keep them together, the more they fell apart – Chie constantly called his ideas stupid; Kanji would yell at everyone; Rise got upset and told them all they sucked compared to Souji. Yosuke was no good at avoiding arguments either; more than once he was the cause of everyone just up and going home. It was obvious: he just couldn't replace Souji. He didn't have their leader's unflappable demeanour, and seeing the team crumble like this was something he could hardly bear.

Which was why Yosuke leaves the empty Headquarters alone now, listening to the playlist he put together for when they went shadow-hunting. It's only been a month, but already it's so nostalgic, so far in the past. So long ago since they found the truth and defeated a god, so long since he watched that train take away his best and closest friend. He dreams about it sometimes – dreams he gets on the train with Souji, dreams he's the one on the train and Souji's staying in Inaba, dreams he misses the train or forgets his ticket or Souji doesn't want him to come. It hurts, being at the train station, but he finds himself there far too often.

Like now. He stops and finds himself staring at the empty tracks, following them away, away, to the place where Souji must be now, and wonders. What is Souji doing? Is he enjoying his final year at school? Making new friends, finding new things to do? They said their bonds were unbreakable, but Souji has never had trouble getting along with people. He won't miss Inaba, not with the big city to explore.

Yosuke thought about calling Souji a few times. Or at least texting him. But he could never bring himself to do it.

His phone rings in his pocket, startling him so much he nearly jumps a foot in the air. He quickly pulls it out, almost expecting it to say Souji's name on the screen, but no – it's Chie. Feeling his heart sink further than it has any right to, he pulls his headphones down to hang around his neck and picks up. "Yeah?"

"Yosuke! You busy right now? You need to be at the train station, stat!"

"Already there," Yosuke replies flatly.

"Don't complain, you – wait, what? Again?"

"Huh? What's that supposed to mean?"

Chie sighs. "Well, that makes things easier. Stay where you are; we'll meet you there in a bit."

"What're we meeting for?" asks Yosuke, but Chie's already hung up. He just shakes his head and puts his phone away.

He frowns. What's there to do at the train station? Is some crime about to happen and they've been tipped off about it? Chie sounded excited, and Yosuke thinks he heard Yukiko talking to someone in the background. What's going on?

Suddenly he decides he doesn't want to be here when they are. He doesn't want to find out what all the ruckus is about. He doesn't want to be around Chie and Yukiko, who are always laughing and chatting together; he doesn't want to be around the second years, who spend all their time together at school. They're not the ones he wants to see. He secures his headphones over his ears, turns up his music just loud enough to drown out the sounds of traffic, and leaves the station.

Unfortunately for Yosuke, he isn't two blocks away before he gets accosted by the entire team, including Teddie. Having been listening to music, he completely neglected to see them coming down a side street, spotting him, and coming over to drag him back to the station.

"Yosuke, where are you going?" Teddie asks, aghast. "The train station's that way!"

"I thought you said you were already there, dumbass!" Chie adds. "Why'd you leave?"

Yosuke scowls. "Let go!" He pries himself away from the others. "Why are you all so excited to go to the train station?"

The dumbstruck look is unanimous.

"Didn't you hear?" says Naoto, raising an eyebrow. "Souji-sempai is visiting for the last three days of Golden Week."

It takes a moment for this to register in Yosuke's head. "W…what? Souji – since when? Who told you?"

"Dojima-san told me and Naoto," Chie says. "But since you've been avoiding us for the past two weeks, we haven't been able to tell you!"

"Wh—I haven't been avoiding you!" he lies. "Anyway, you could've texted or something!"

"I suggested that," says Yukiko, "but Chie said it'd be better not to bother you, if you didn't want to talk to us…"

"I never said that!"

"Yosuke-sempai," Kanji puts in, "you _have_ been kinda distant lately. Everything okay?"

Yosuke frowns. "I – I've been busy," he says quickly. "They're giving me extra hours at Junes, and I wanna get better marks this year."

"And how is napping in the TV world going to get you better marks?" asks Teddie righteously. "Don't think I haven't seen you going in there to wander. You can't resist its un_bear_able beauty, can you?"

"Look, it's my business what I do with my spare time," Yosuke snaps. "Anyway—"

But the rest of his sentence is drowned out by the sound of an approaching train. Yosuke blinks and realizes they've herded him back to the station, and there's a train pulling in right in front of them. Something in his gut twists, and he suddenly becomes very aware of his heartbeat. He stands, unmoving, as the train's compartment door opens and a familiar face appears.

"Sempai!" Rise's the first to jump Souji, throwing her arms around his middle. "Oh, Sempai, I missed you _so _much! How was your trip? Have you had lunch yet? How's the city? How's school?"

Everyone surrounds Souji, chattering and smiling and laughing. Souji smiles and greets them all, somehow managing to answer everyone at once. Then he notices something and glances up.

When their eyes meet, Yosuke flinches. He doesn't know why, but he can't seem to move any closer. He stares into those clear, calm eyes, not knowing what to say.

"Long time no see, Yosuke," Souji says with a smile.

"Y…yeah." Yosuke manages to crack a smile in return.

Then he turns and runs.

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><p>I started with Persona 4, and have since picked up Persona 3 Portable and am nearly done that. We have P3FES in the house too, though it hasn't been opened yet. I've missed parts of both games due to not finishing some Social Links, but I do plan to replay them, possibly with guides to make sure I experience everything.<p>

Writing is hard for me lately. It's killing me, man. But I know no other cure than to continue writing, no matter how much crap I have to get out of my system, until I can write well again. I don't know yet where my muse will take me, but I'll do my best to let you know when I find out, be it through my blog, on my profile, or in the notes of another fanfiction. Until next time!

R+F


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